Ice tray



Nov. 28, 1939.

Q. BERG ICE TRAY Filed Sept. -12, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Qilenfiq ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 28, ,1939

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ICE TRAY Quentin Berg, Canton, Ohio, assignor to The Hoover Company, North Canton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application September 12, 1938, Serial No. 229,395

7 Claims.

This invention relates to refrigeration, and more particularly, to ice block receptacles for domestic refrigerators. It has been customary in the past to remove ice cubes from the domestic.

3 sembly. The use of hot water results in the wastage of ice since the cubes are reduced in size by the hot water before they become loosened, and in addition, necessitates the removal of all the cubes from the tray, and if only a 3 few are needed, theremainder either have to be stored or thrownaway. In addition,-the handling of the cold, wet tray is an arduous and messy procedure. The removal of the grid assembly and attached cubes from the tray, by means of a complicated leverage mechanism, re-

quires the application of excessive forces. Such mechanisms easily get out of order and are costly to manufacture. The later handling of the .grid assembly and attached cubes is a tedious and unpleasant task.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide an ice block receptacle for a domesticrefrigerator in which it is unnecessary to remove a grid assembly in order to remove the ice blocks 0 from the tray.

It is another object of this. invention to provide a receptacle to be used. as a substitute for.

the ordinary ice' tray and grid assembly and in which no parts need be removed to release blocks 5 of ice from the receptacle. H

It has been proposed to make an ice cube tray from non-metallic flexible material such as rubher, so that the tray can be flexed and the cubes removed, butsuch devices are not entirely sat-.

,0 isfactory since the rubber is a poor conductor of heat and it requires an excessive long period for freezing ice.

It is accordingly another object of this in vention toprovide a flexible and extensible ice .5 block receptacle made of metallic material.

It is another object of this invention to pro- 'vide an ice receptaclein which one or more blocks 55 Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description p'roceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which: a Figure 1 is a perspective view of one embodiio ment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the device shown 7 in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view on line 3'3 of'Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of another embodiment. of the invention; Figure 5 is a side view partly broken away of the device shown in Figure 4; Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view on line 6-6 of Figure 4.

Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3, It! indicates an ice receptacle adapted to be positioned on the evaporator shelf of a domestic refrigeratonmade up of individual pockets II having side walls l2 and end walls l3. The side walls l2 of the adjacent pockets are welded together at the upper central portion as shown at I4. The end walls 13 are sloped upwardly and outwardly so that the entire receptacle is narrower at the bottom than at the top. Theend walls 13 of each pocket, except the central one, is extended upwardly on two longitudinally'slidable U-shaped members l1 and I8 which are welded to the side walls l2 of each end pocket as shown at l9 and 20. As shown, the space between the lugs l5 and 16 increases from both ends towards the center of the tray.

' The longitudinal slidable members "and I8 slide-in upstanding guide members 2l and 22 on frame member 23, ha ling a portion 24 extending beneath the center pocket of the receptacle. As shown, the center pocket of the receptacle is shallower than the remainder of the pockets to provide clearance for the portion 24 of the frame member 23 so that the remainder of the pockets .29 to provide clearance so that the receptacle can be extended at each end.

.With the lever 21 in the position shown in Fig- "ure 2, the ice receptacle is filled with water and placed in the freezing compa'rtment of a domes'tic refrigerator until the water has become frozen. The receptacle is then removed from the freezing compartment and the leverraised. This will cause the cams 26 to contact the lugs on each of. the longitudinally'slidable members l1 and I8 wherebythe walls I2 .ofthe end pockets will be separatedfrom the ice causing to form lugs l5 which cooperate with lugs l6 the end walls [3 to 'tendto move toward each 7 other. Due to the fact that the end walls l3 are tapered upwardly and outwardly, the movement of these walls toward each other will apply a I force having a component acting upwardly on toward each other, there would be a large force the blocks to raise the blocks from the pockets.

' Continued movement of the lever will cause the lugs Hi to contact with the lugs I 5 on the end pockets whereby the end pockets will be moved outwardly, and since the end pockets are attached to the next adjacent pocket, only at the upper central portion, the walls I 2 of the second pocketwill be separated from the ice and those ice blocks released as previously described. Continued movement of the lever 21 will release the ice blocks from. each succeeding pocket in succession.

It will be noted that when the side walls l2 are separated from the ice blocks, the bond between the walls and the blocks is subjected to a tearing stress, and when the end walls I3 are moved toward each other to raise the blocks in X the pocket, the bond between the end walls [3 and the blocks is subjected to a shear stress, and the bond between the blocks and the bottom of the pocket is subjected to a straight tension stress. v

Since only a small part of the bond is under stress at any one time in applying a tearing stress, it is much easier to separate the bond between a block and its compartment walls by this type of stress, and for this reason the cubes can be easily released without the application of excessive force.

Another feature of the invention which makes it easy to release the blocks 'is that only one.

block is released at any one time and therefore less force is required.

The individual pockets need not be made in the shape shown, but could be made substantially semi-circular with flat bottom so that all" the walls of the pockets would slope upwardly andoutwardly so that when the side walls are separated, and consequently the end walls forced tending to raise the' cubes from the pockets- The mechanism for extending the pockets and the entire receptacle may be omitted if desired, in which case the receptacle .could be flexed downwardly at'the ends and upwardly in the center to remove the ice blocks from the pockets.

The individual pockets may be made of any thin, flexible, metallic material which can be easily flexed, such as stainless steel, aluminum or a good grade of chromium plated brass.

In the embodiment of the invention as shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6, the individual pockets 30 are made in the'shape of a cross with the exception of one end pocket 3| which is of T shape so that one receptacle can nest laterally with an I adjacent receptacle as shown in Figure 4. The

When the ice has become frozen, the receptacle is removed from the freezing compartment and rack and flexed downwardly at the ends as,

shown in Figure 5. This will cause the end walls of each pocket to become separated from the ice blocks and tend to bring, the side walls of each packet toward each other so as to exert a lifting 'force 'on the block and release it from the pocket as shown in dotted lines in Figure 5. It is to be noted that the device of this invention is not a tray as used in the ordinary sense in this art, but is a substitute for the ordinary tray and its grid assembly.

.moved in succession.

It will be noted that the material of the receptacle does not have any bends of greater than 1 so that flexing it does not cause failure as rapidly as'in the case where greater bends are used. This results in a receptacle which will last indefinitely. If desired, the corners of the pockets could berounded in quite large arcs so as to increase the life of the receptacle.

From the foregoing, it can be seen that this invention provides an ice block receptacle for domestic refrigerators in which one or more blocks can easily be released from the receptacle without the necessity of removing a coldcgrid assembly from the receptacle, and then removing the attached blocks from the grid assembly, and which is simple and economical to manufacture.

While I have shown and described only two embodiments of my invention, it is to be underpockets of flexible material secured together at their upper central portions, a frame for said receptacle, and means slidable on said frame for positively extending said pockets in a predetermined order.

2. An ice block receptacle made up of individual pockets of relatively stiff, flexible material secured together at their upper central portions, a frame for said receptacle, slidable means on said frame, and means on said slidable means and pockets for extending pockets in succession.

3. An ice block receptacle made up of individual 7 pockets of relatively stiff, flexible material secured together at their upper central portions, a frame for said receptacle, slidable means on "\said frame for extending said pockets, and cam 5. A device of the-character described, com prising individual pockets of resilient material suitably secured together to form a flexible receptacle for ice blocks and means'for extending said receptacle,- said means being so constructed. and arranged as to extend the pockets in a predetermined order; whereby ice blocks may be re-' 6. 'A receptacle for ice blocks made up of individual pockets of resilient material secured together at their upper portions, 9. frame for said receptacle and means on said frame-for extend. ing said pockets, said means and said frame cooperating to form a-handle for said receptacle when said means is in inoperative position.

7. A receptacle for ice blocks made up of" pockets offlexible material secured together at their upper portions, a frame for'said receptacle, slidable means on said frame for extending said QUEN'IIN .pockets, and means for moving said slidable 

